Home Reading. (Мистецтво)

Домашнє завдання. Прочитати та перекласти тексти.

Art 1.

There are many different types of arts in the world. The most popular ones are cinema, theater, literature, music and painting. I’d like to tell you a little bit about each of these arts. First of all, my favourite type of art is music. It has always fascinated me how people create such melodic tunes. I love all genres of music, be it jazz, classical, pop, rock, reggae, opera, blues or else. Music can change my mood. If I’m sad I try to listen to something cheerful, for example, to disco music. If I want to think in loneliness, I prefer alternative rock. I’m glad that there are so many devices nowadays which allow us to listen to music everywhere we wish. 

It includes radios, MP-3 players, CD-players, mobile phones. My second favourite type of art is literature. I like reading interesting novels and detective stories. I also value the works of famous writers and poets. Speaking of Russian writers I’ve read some works of Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky and Mayakovski. Their works are world-famous and many books have been translated into other languages. Theater is gradually becoming an outdated type of art. On the contrary, cinemas become more popular. There are many great theatres and large cinemas in Russia. I think people should respect the work of actors and attend theatres more often. As for me, I don’t really like cinemas. If I want to watch a new movie, I buy and watch it at home.

Painting is another form of art. Museums and art galleries have always attracted me. I think that painting is a rather interesting activity. One of my friends is really good at it. He is going to enter the University of Arts after graduating from school. His works include oil paintings and pastel. I really admire his talent. I wish I could be as good at painting as him.

Art 2.

One can distinguish two branches of human work: the arts and the sciences. The sciences require knowledge, observation, identification, description, experimentation and theoretical explanation.

The arts on the contrary require skill. That means the ability to work well with a part of his or her body. It is the combination of talent and technique. An artist is a man who can do something well with his own hands and tools. Some time ago everything that was made with tools was "artificial", not natural. The word "manufacture", for example, once meant "to make by hand"

Everything is a bit different nowadays. The word "art" has a special meaning. It means something beautiful. The paintings of skilled painters are appreciated and admired by millions of people today, by those who can see the beauty. Art comprises weaving rugs, tapestries, ceramic work. So there are a lot of types of art. Nevertheless one can trace basic principles in art. All kinds of it require the same characteristics. The separate parts of a work of art should be arranged in pattern. The form itself, a pleasing shape and balance are extremely important.

Art inspires the human spirit. Painters, sculptors, musicians, writers, weavers - they all contribute to a better life for us.

The painter.

On 25 October 1881 a little boy was born in Malaga, Spain. It was a difficult birth and to help him breathe, cigar smoke was blown into his nose. But despite being the youngest smoker this baby grew up to be one of the 20th century’s greatest painter’s – Pablo Picasso.

Picasso showed his truly exceptional talent from a very young age. His first word was lapis (pencil for Spanish) and he learnt to draw before he could speak. He was the only son in the family, and very good-looking, so he was thoroughly spoilt.  He hated school and often refused to go unless his doting parents allowed him to take one of his father’s pet pigeons with him!

Apart from the pigeons, his greatest love was art, and when in 1891 his father, who was an amateur artist, got a job as a drawing teacher at a college, Pablo went with him to the college. He often watched his father paint and sometimes was allowed to help. One evening father was painting a picture of their pigeons when he had to leave the room. He returned to find Pablo had completed the picture, and it was so amazingly beautiful and lifelike that he gave his son his own palette and brushes and never painted again. Pablo was 13.

From then onwards there was no stopping him. Many people realized that he was a genius but he disappointed those who wanted him to become a traditional painter. He was always breaking of the aristocratic tradition and shocked the public with his strange and powerful picture He is probably best known for his “Cubist” pictures, which used only simple geometric shapes. His paintings of people were often made up of triangles and squares with their features in the wrong ways. His work changed our ideas about art, and to millions of people modern art mills the work of Picasso.

Picasso created over 6000 paintings, drawings and sculptures. Today “A Picasso” costs several million pounds. Once, when the French Minister of Culture was visiting Picasso, the artist accidentally split some paint on the Minister’s trousers. Picasso apologized and wanted to pay for them to be cleaned, but the Minister said: “Non! Please, Monsignor Picasso, just sign my trousers!”

Picasso died of heart failure during an attack of influenza in 1973.

1. Answer the questions.

                   Variant 1.

• 1. Answer the questions.

•       1. When was Pablo Picasso born?

•        2. Where was Pablo Picasso Born?

•        3. What do you learn about his childhood?

•        4. Which people played a part in his career?

•         5. What do you think were the most important events in his life?

2.  Five of these following numbers or dates relate to this painter? Find them and circle.

79     6000   11   13    14   1926   1937    1952   1973   1881

The great painter. 

Vincent Van Gogh was an outstanding painter of the 19th century. He was born in 1883 in Holland, but he lived much of his life in France. He was a very emotional man and there was much suffering in his life.

Van Gogh did not start painting until he was 27, ten years before he died. Before becoming a painter, he was a teacher, an art dealer and a church preacher.

However Van Gogh was mentally ill. During one of his fits of madness he attacked his friend, the artist Paul Gauguin. In another fit of madness, he cut of part of his own ear. Eventually he went into a mental hospital, but he did not get any better.

Finally, in 1890 Vincent Van Gogh shot himself. His last words were “The sadness will continue”.

His style of painting was very different from classical art. He painted pictures of the sunny, hot regions of France. Nobody has ever painted cornfields or sunflowers like Van Gogh. His paintings are full of colour and sunlight. He looked for interesting shapes and exiting colours. He liked to work freely and quickly. Today his paintings are worth millions of pound, but in his lifetime he only sold one.

There is fast movement in many of his paintings. Sometimes the trees look like fire. The sun, the moon and stars move rapidly in the sky. He also painted pictures of people. Like his life his art was always unusual and very emotional.

1. Choose the correct variant.

Variant 2.

1. Choose the correct variant.

1. How old was Van Gogh when he started painting?

1. 27 b) 37    c) 17 d)   26

2. What was he before becoming a painter?

1. a teacher and a sailor

2. a teacher, a doctor and a preacher

3. a teacher, a dealer and a preacher

4. a dealer and a farmer

3. What was wrong with him?

1. He was mentally ill.

2. He was emotional.

3. He was disabled.

4. He was left-handed.

4. How did he die?

1. His heart was broken.

2. He was shot by his brother.

3. He had a strong heart attack.

4. He shot himself.

5. How many pictures did he sell in his lifetime?

1. one  b) many c) none d) twenty-one.

2.  Mark the following statements are true (T) or false (F).

1. Van Gogh was an outstanding actor of the 19th century.  ______

2. Van Gogh was born in 1853 in Holland. ______

3. Van Gogh started painting when he was 17. ______

4. Before becoming a painter he was an accountant.______

5. His paintings were full of colour and sunlight. _______

Let’s check the tasks. Read your answers in chain one by one.

The keys of 1 task: 1a, 2c, 3a, 4d, 5a.   

 The keys of the 2 task:  1F, 2T, 3T, 4F, 5T.